Editor’s note: Back in February readers Agatha and her husband, from Carlow in Ireland, did a Q&A with about their experience of house-hunting on the South Costa Blanca, which got rave reviews from other readers. Here Agatha explains how their purchase turned out, for the benefit of others going down the same road.


So in July after waiting 7 months we finally set the completion date for 19th July, the vendor had returned to the UK so a Power of Attorney was representing them. We did a pre-completion inspection of the property the day before completion and I would highly recommend this so there are no surprises after completion.
To be honest we were a little disappointed on viewing the property – not disappointed with the property itself, but the way it was being handed over. The house had not been lived in for 4 months so the garden was well over grown, and the exterior was fairly dirty. We could deal with that but on entering the property we were totally surprised to find that a couple of the light fittings had been stripped out and wires were hanging from the ceiling. Also gone were the fridge freezer, TV, cutlery, and crockery, which during viewing the owner said she was leaving. In the end we were left with a shell, and even the estate agent was a bit taken aback. When we viewed initially we were told which pieces of furniture would be removed and were okay with that, and assumed rest of the items would remain. That turned out not to be the case so my advice is always do a pre-completion inspection if you are buying a resale property in Spain.
Property Purchase Completion Day
We had agreed to buy some items of outdoor furniture from the vendor when we viewed the property, but because of the light fittings and other electrical items and furniture being removed we wanted to withhold this money. However, when it came down to it we had to concede as the vendor wanted to delay completion and get the items we agreed to buy removed and complete the following day, so we had no choice but to give in.
On a more positive note, we found out that we actually did not need permission from the Community of Owners to legalise the extension and the pool as the Community had not yet been registered, so that whole delay trying to get permission turned out to be unnecessary, and the pool and extension is now listed on our title deeds which is good news. In hindsight we could have completed a lot earlier, but because some legal work is not done until day of completion, our solicitor could not have known this.
Now we own our home on the South Costa Blanca we are more than happy with it, even though it took some time to get there.
Read the original Q&A with Agatha: CASE STUDY: Housing-hunting on the South Costa Blanca